Exclusive: Andy Weir Discusses Golden Globe Noms and What To Expect In The Home Release Of ‘The Martian’

With a plethora of superhero films as well as remakes and reboots, it’s rare to see an original idea actually succeed at the box office. But ‘The Martian’ has broken the cycle and has surprised everyone – especially the author of the novel the film is based on, Andy Weir. In honor of the December 22 Digital HD release of ‘The Martian,’ ScienceFiction.com had the pleasure of speaking to Weir about his Golden Globe nominations as well as what’s in store for him next!

ScienceFiction.com (SF): Congratulations on the 3 Golden Globe nominations! Did you ever think your novel would gain this much attention and be so admired by both sci-fi and no sci-fi fans alike?

Andy Weir (AW): “It never occurred to me that it would be this big especially considering I just wrote it as a series of blog posts… basically. I just posted it online for free. I never imagined it would get so popular. I didn’t even expect it would have mainstream appeal. I thought I was just writing a book for hard core science dorks.”

SF: The digital release is slated to be available on December 22, with the Blu-ray out next month. Have you had a chance to see any of the Blu-ray edition yet? Will it be an extended version of the film?

AW: “Yes, my understanding is that the Blu-ray comes out January 12th and my understanding is that there are 20 minutes of additional footage in it – it’s a director’s cut – and I have not seen the additional footage. I’m looking forward to seeing it too!”

SF: Is there any part of the extended footage that you hope to be included that was not included in the film?

AW: “There is that one deleted scene – it was all over YouTube – where Watney is walking around in the hab talking about experiments that he’s doing that used to be the other crew’s responsibilities. I like that scene. I hope they put that in there.”

“Also the Blu-ray/DVD comes with a gag reel and I’m looking forward to seeing that… bloopers and stuff. That’s not part of the 20 minutes. The movie itself is 20 minutes longer when you watch the DVD.”

SF: Are you working on another book right now?

AW: “Yes! I’m working on my next book now! It takes place on the moon and I don’t know when it will come out. I’m catastrophically behind schedule so… (laughs)”

SF: I think that’s a little understandable considering all the press junkets you have been doing for ‘The Martian.’ Is this new novel going to be more hard science like ‘The Martian’ or soft?

AW: “It’s going to be hard science. Everything in it is going to be scientifically accurate.”

As a fellow Whovian, we ended our rather limited interview with Weir talking about ‘Doctor Who’ which I’ll be sharing at a later point in time.

Although ‘The Martian’ Blu-ray/DVD won’t be on shelves until next month, you can still watch it at home as the Digital HD release (which is now available) will have more than 90 minutes of special features including an exclusive newly produced in-world retrospective starring Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sean Bean covering the “true” story behind the daring rescue seven years after the events of the film occurred. It’s definitely worth the re-watch until the Blu-ray becomes available!

Janice Kay

Janice's first memories of the genre were of watching the original 'Star Trek' and classic 'Doctor Who' episodes (Tom Baker, aka the Fourth Doctor, was her first). Soon, she was introduced to 'Godzilla' and her addiction then spread to books, magazines, movies and comics. Janice continued as a closet geek as her thirst and love for sci-fi grew and was only second to her love of baking. Then one night, on a whim, she answered a tweet to be a writer for ScienceFiction.com and the geek girl insider her was soon set free. Within 3 years she became the Senior Editor for the site. When not writing or editing for ScienceFiction.com, Janice is scouring the internet to feed her sci-fi cravings while defending conspiracy theories, protecting scientific theorems and loving all things science fiction.... and baking cookies.